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4/29/09

This week I am showing off my new/old bear that I recently made-over. I wanted it to look just like....

this one being sold for $299.95.

Here is a before photo of the bear that I started out with...

The bear cost me $1...and the little dress was $1 as well. I saved myself hundreds of dollars! (not that I was going to buy that bear in the catalog) :-) Anywho, I snipped the bears fur off of its snout, ears and his paws with scissors so it looked very worn. Then I hit the ears with some watered down paint & a little smidge with my brown ink pad. I then cut off the protruding nose a little bit to make it more like the one in the catalog. I then stitched on a new felt nose. I also gave it a new mouth...and I covered up the dark felt pads on the paws with a camel colored wool fabric from a vintage coat. I am very happy with my new/old bear! Isn't she a sweetie~You can see more "Show & Tells" by visiting Kelli's blog, "There is no place like Home" If you have linked here and wish to view more of my blog you can click here~

4/28/09

It is pirate season around here, I am working non-stop on all things "pirate" for the upcoming 2nd annual pirate party~ okokok--- I am including all the yard work I've been doing in preparation of the big 3 day event :-) I have been working on a few things "artsy" I found this fabulous teddy bear in a catalog that I LOVE...but the price of $299.95 made me chuckle. I mean come on.... for that price I had better be able to drive it around the block. Anywho, I am recreating a teddy bear to look just like this one pictured above.... I am also working on a pirate chest that is getting a makeover. I would like to post some photos off of my camera but my wonderful virus detecting thingie on my computer keeps taking the camera downloading program off of my computer lol

4/24/09

There is a Frugal Friday Linky party over at "The Shabby Nest" and Jen is hosting her monthly "make-over" open house party. Who can resist a good party right? I always appreciate it... it is like a little flame under my butt to get me to actually complete a project! I am soooooooooo hooked on finishing projects!! The blog "Hooked on Houses" is hosting a "Hooked on Fridays" linkie to share what your currently hooked on... good-night, what aren't I hooked on? lol The Inspired room is also hosting a party!! Anywho~ Here is my make-over. I used this one chandelier that I picked up this past Saturday for $5 bucks!! (blogged about here)......I took it apart and made two matching chandeliers! I've made a tutorial on how I made them. If you are interested in seeing how I did this.... click here!

I was wanting/needing two small chandeliers to hang from my two gazebos in my backyard for a upcoming party...so whats a girl to do but make them herself~ I was extremely lucky to pick up this large chandelier at a tag sale for $5 bucks (seen in the before photo) The after photo shows just one of the two chandeliers I've made....not to bad if I do say so myself! Anywho.... here is how I did it if anyone is wanting to make their own chandelier.

Firstly, your needing crystals from a thrifted chandelier... or you could use those long strings of beaded garlands that are so popular around Christmas time. I could imagine this made with white pearls...hmmm, now I'm wanting one of those! I pulled off all of the crystals from this chandelier.....then I took the brass frame outside and started pounding apart the rings with the predrilled holes in them that I wanted to reuse on my two new chandeliers. Here are those parts shown below. I cut open the old metal circles so that I could make them smaller. I simply wrapped wire to secure the ends together to keep the new/smaller circle shapes.I also used 3 metal rings to use as the part of the structure to hang the crystals from. I used a total of 5 circles, 3 store bought and 2 made from reused parts from the old chandelier. (If your not reusing parts from a thrifted chandelier your going to purchase more of the metal rings to create your chandelier) I picked these metal rings up at Joanns fabrics. I imagine all craft stores would sell these. The large one which is 10" was only about $2 bucks, the 5" was about $1.50 and the 3" was .50cents. Your also needing some wire. I just pulled from my wire stash-- the nice silver wire pictured below is 26 gauge and the large messy bundle of wire I have no idea what gauge it is.... but it is slightly thicker than the 26 gauge. Now...lets start having some fun shall we?I've never made anything like this before, I'm just winging it, keep that in mind lol~ I used a wooden skewer and wrapped the thicker of the two wires around that... I pushed the wire close together on the skewer so that the loops would be the same size in diameter once I pulled it off.Next, I pulled off the wire from the skewer and started to flatten the wire so that it would be one long wavy piece of wire. I then attached the wire with tape to the round metal circle temporarily while working to attach it permanetly with wire. I used the 26 gauge wire to attach the thicker wire to the ring by going around the entire thing catching the wire next to the metal ring and just pulling it tight. Easy-peasy. When I had went around the ring back to where I started, I just wrapped the wire several times around to secure it. I did this to all 3 rings. Next, I painted the 3 rings with some gold metallic paint. I like the Krylon brand, it dries in 15 minutes or less~Here is the bottom of the chandelier I made (it is shown upside down so you can see the different heights I've created) To attach each circle to the larger circle I used wire that I simply wrapped around each ring trying my best to keep the circles centered each time I did this. The very bottom circle of my chandelier I was wanting to hang down a little bit more than the rest...so I just lengthened the wire and attached it about 2 inches lower than the rest (below, it is pictured upside down)Here is what is going to be the top of my chandelier. You can see the 4 pieces of wire that attaches the smaller inside circle to the larger outside circle... then I spray painted it all with the Krylon gold paint. I then divided the crystals from my thrifted chandelier into two piles. I had to stop and wash the crystals as they were pretty filthy! Once dried I had a fun time adding them to the rings to create my two new chandeliers. You can see in this photo below the top and bottom of the new chandelier starting to take form. I attached the top circle to the bottom circle only with the strands of crystals. This is being created so it will be able to collapse somewhat flat as these are only going to be used once a year for my yearly pirate party and then stored for the rest of the year! (the green wire is only being used temporarily while the chandelier is being created) I kept adding crystals spacing them somewhat evenly as the wire loops would allow me to lol.... then I added some crystals into the reused predrilled metal pieces that I bent into smaller circles. Thats it....easy-peasy! Here is a close up photo showing the chandelier all finished.

Here is another view...

I am going to add this light fixture (below) that is normally used in paper lanterns for the light source for my two new chandeliers. Thats it...I hope you try it. Remember, you could use those beaded garlands as well!

4/22/09

Reduce-reuse-recycle....three words that come to mind on earth day. I recently bought these gift bags (26 in total) at a yard sale for $2 bucks. (highway robbery I tell you!) They were previously stamped and written on but never used. I figured I could use them for--- what else? the upcoming pirate party of course! One of the thrift stores I go to gives away magazines and maps for free. Crazy huh? I always grab both on my way out of the store! Anywho, I recycled these bags into something I could use...using leftovers from previous things I've worked on :-) I ripped one of the maps into small sizes that would cover up the previous crafters "embellishments" I glued the map piece on the bag... Using left over stuff from my stash, I glued on an oval of ultra suede with a cut out of a pirate image glued on top of that. Then I tied on a piece of ripped black fabric on the handle...Lastly, I dragged my ink pad along the sides of the bag and stamped "Booty" on the bag and taaaaaaa daaaaaaaa reused/recycled & reduced waste!

4/21/09

I've collaborated with one of the many mourning doves in my yard with building a nest. I could see this young couples concerns with building a nest...being young newlyweds and all.... sometimes you just need to have the experience of someone older and wiser to go to for help. They were sweet and didn't boldly come out and ask for help.... They tried on their own...picking up sticks and bits of dried grass while I was out in the yard planting & pruning. The couple had picked a nice location... in a wreath that I had hung, rather haphazardly, from my front yard gazebo. I saw the momma-to-be sitting on a pile of sticks in the center of the wreath looking very proud of their accomplishment of their new nest. Thats when the "momma" in me took over. Once the sweet couple went off on an errand....I pulled down the wreath with a gentle pull-- a strong wind would have done the same! I pulled out the few sticks and in its place I wired in a store bought nest with high sides. I then used stronger wire to attach the wreath more securely to the gazebo so it wouldn't sway in the wind. Once the wreath with the nest was in place back on the gazebo, I placed the few sticks the dove's had previously gathered inside the new nest. Here is the wreath with a portion of the nest showing.....I placed a wicker basket on the backside of the wreath to help shield the birds from the heat of the sun. I was going to use a flat woven basket, but I figured the depth of this basket would allow the birds to turn easily when they were sitting in the nest. Here is the basket on the flip side of the wreath-- not to pretty, but well worth it~Not a moment to soon.... a new life is on its way~A closer look.... isn't the egg beautiful~

I had a fun time hitting some yard sales this past weekend...I thought I'd show off my bounty~ This crystal light was only $5. I think I might pull all the crystals off of this and make two matching hanging lights for my upcoming pirate party :-) You can't tell in this photo, but the bottom that it is sitting on has about 5 more rounds of crystals that hang down! All of these things were bought at the same house... a tin of buttons $1.50 (most are mother of pearl) an old pair of childrens shoes .50cents, an old photo of 4 children .75cents, a tiny box of old mercury glass Christmas beads (and other junk) .25cents, a baggie of stamins .25cents.... I would like to think that some of the buttons in the tin were from those children's clothing, maybe the shoes were worn by the little girl, and the old Christmas beads were from something that they had hung on their Christmas tree. A baggie full of crochet pieces $1.00, a baggie full of jumbo sized white ric-rac $2.00. A pink vintage scale $2.00, a silver candlestick $1.50, a two tiered cat bed (soon to be painted white) $5.00, that rectangle metal lidded thingie filled with rose covered balls $5.00, the grayish looking metal thingie was only $1.00.The large metal oval thingie (I am going to put decorating books in it) $5.00, the metal topiary was only $2.00.Lastly, this filthy childs chair with matching filthy foot stool was $3.00. Stay tuned for that puppies make-over! lol

4/17/09

I am not a huge fan of magnets on my fridge. Probably because my house is so cluttered, its nice to have a place of emptiness to rest my eyes? okokok, that and my cats jump up and knock them off of the fridge. Anywho, I had bought a bunch of those adorable plastic letters with magnets on the back for my fridge for my two year old grandson.... (I think my cats enjoy them more than my grandson)...anywho, I took one of those metal calendar dry erase boards....and I spray painted over the calendar part. (I never could get into the habit of writing on that thing) I had previously "shabbied" up the frame on this calendar thinking that would get me to use it.... didn't work lol Anywho, here it is with a few coats of aqua blue paint on it. I baked it out in the sun for two days to really dry the paint. (bringing it in at night) Truely that is the secret to a great paint job. Anywho, I think it is adorable now :-) My grandson really enjoys playing with it...okokok, just pulling off the magnets and tossing them all over the floor-- whatever~

4/16/09

I just finished making this little crochet poncho/coat for my grandaughter using a vintage pattern..... (the pattern was for a two year old-- she has 22 more months to go before she can wear it lol) There is a pattern for a matching hat as well. This is my first attempt at making anything to wear (besides baby booties) I am so going to enter this in the fair this year-- it probably won't win a ribbon-- but I put a lot of hours in on this, maybe that will at least get me a chuckle lol

I've redone my mailbox flap that is in my kitchen..... I am lucky to have my mail put into my house and not in one of those community mail boxes that are popular in newer developments. (something to be said about living in an old established neighborhood) So this thing-- being 40 odd years old was once a shiny brass mail box cover. Over the years it turned into a pitted/rusted embarrassment-- which I painted & repainted over the years...Soooooooo this last time.... I painted it with some rust prevention paint and then had some fun with my joint compound :-) I used one of those thin stencils for scrapbooking, I centered it and taped it into place~Then I spread a layer of the joint compound over the cut out area I wanted to appear on my mailbox door. I would say it was about 2/16" thick~Once the compound had set up for a few minutes, I just peeled off the tape and carefully lifted the stencil up and off revealing the design~Here it is painted.... I distressed it using some brown paint. I am not sure I am going to keep it like this due to the fact that the tile this is going to be set into is stark white and this might just end up looking "dirty".....so its going to sit up against the tile for awhile until I decide :-)You can find more show & tells over at Kelli's blog.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the butter, sugar, pumpkin and vanilla. In separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Add to dry mixture to the butter mixture and stir...adding the butterscotch chips and the walnuts last. Drop by teaspoons onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Allow to cool on sheet for 1 minute, then remove to cooling rack.

I am a mixed media artist. I love to sew, embroider, crochet and create things using vintage objects. I love: old classic cars, vintage fabrics, old buttons, cats, shabby chic furniture & linens.... chewing gum, diet pepsi, sneakers, chocolate and gardening~ I like to rummage through thrift stores, yard sales, estate sales and the occasional curbside trash pile. I don't mind getting dirty for treasures! I like to repurpose found objects throughout my home and garden.